Methodist Bishop Rallies Churches In Drug Fight

WASHINGTON — Playing a new role in the drug war, the United Methodist Church has moved one of its bishops to the nation`s capital to galvanize a grass-roots assault on violence and drug trafficking.

The experiment between Bishop Felton May, a former Chicago activist, and 14 churches in southeast Washington and neighboring Prince Georges County, Md., is intended to bolster sagging morale and provide additional finances for programs that include caring for abandoned infants, providing medical services, educating schoolchildren, and rehabilitating addicts.

The region is one of the most troubled in Washington, which has the highest infant mortality rate and murder rate in the United States and a mayor who has been arrested on charges of possession of cocaine.

The initial $100,000 in financing will be used to expand programs under way in the 14 churches, with the bishop coordinating the efforts.

Most people involved in the drug initiative say that May, who has demonstrated a passionate interest in social issues throughout his career, is the ideal man for the job.

He grew up on Chicago`s South Side in the 1950s, and, during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, he assisted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in founding Operation Breadbasket, an anti-poverty operation.

In 1969, he moved to Wilmington, Del., to help congregations through a period of racial tension. May left his duties in Harrisburg, Pa., in early January to take up residence in the northeast section of the District of Columbia.

He had proposed living in Anacostia, the heart of the city`s drug area, but pastors of the 14 churches strongly urged him not to. They contended that the bishop`s life would be in danger and that a temporary stay would leave their congregations demoralized when he left.

``I`m going to be the pastors` pastor,`` May said in a recent interview.

``I will live with these pastors on a day-to-day basis, visiting the homes of the bereaved as well as working with those who have afflicted family members. I sort of laugh and tell them I`ll do anything but windows.``

The churches in the covenant have come to a bitter standoff in their struggle against drugs, said Rev. Everett Stevenson, the pastor for 41 years at the A.P. Shaw United Methodist Church, which is in a particularly rough section of Anacostia.

Each congregation has defended its own corner against drug trafficking, he said, but the positive impact has been limited mostly to isolated victories.

Some within the church doubt the bishop`s capacity to make a difference where the churches have not.

``I`m just not sure what one bishop can do,`` said Robert Wilson, a professor of Methodist history at Duke University.